Resources

Pushing the book cart

Library book trolleys - book carts in the US – come in a variety of styles but the majority
do one thing but nothing much else. Great for moving a load of books from A to B – they are
large, cumbersome and inflexible when not in use.

Libraries usually lack space, so empty
trolleys lurk in dark corners, sulk on the ends of bays or glare balefully out of the windows
and snag passing trousers. They lend a neglected, empty air to any library space, however
glamorous. When in need of a solution, the web, as always, provides plenty of project ideas.

Here’s a winner of the Pimp My Book Cart competition

And a truly scary animal cover to disguise an empty cart.

Here’s a design idea created by some modern Merry Pranksters who have forgotten the books.

A stripped-down and rebuilt version is here used in an enterprising approach to bring a new audience to the library.

The German book cart of the future – according to a youth library group - needs a robotic arm for re-shelving and a rear view mirror.

Being essentially mobile, book trolleys have been effectively disguised as vehicles.

A neat mini me mobile

A police car with working lights

Some are truly mobile and work as pop-up libraries in themselves

Some are truly mobile and work as pop-up libraries in themselves

Of course you could just use the cart as a way to display the returned books so it never is empty.

But, be warned, if you go too deep searching for ideas on the web you will discover things that will haunt your dreams, and not in a good way.

For sheer entertainment value, explore the Book Cart Drill Teams in the USA. Watch the videos of synchronised waving, sedate twirling and wobbly reversing.

There’s a handbook for the beginner.

You might decide that your library has far too many trolleys. No doubt you are far too responsible a citizen to release them into the wild. However, should you ever spot a dumped cart you could learn a lot from a study that has been made of a related beast. ‘The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A guide to field identification’ by Julian Montague looks at the aesthetic impulse behind abandoning carts. It’s an attempt to explore the complex relationship between landscape and cart. Enjoy.

Related Resources

Libraries are the place where ideas begin. Many of the best ideas, artistic leaps, inventions and breakthroughs have been inspired by the contents of public libraries and yet, like many of the vital contributions that the library makes to the wider community, the effect is unseen so how could that link be made visible?

Amazon’s customer reviews and suggestions are widely used and can be quite helpful if taken in balance. However, because of the way people often make book purchases, the adjacencies (people who bought this also bought….) don’t always reflect personal reading tastes.

Public art is often commissioned for public libraries. Large library buildings offer the urban space to make a big statement at the entrance or in the foyer. The art has to live up to the expectations of the City – they are very prestigious and very visible.

Readers often say that they love the scent of old books. "A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness” is how an international team of chemists describes the particular smell of decaying tomes.